Strawhat Shenanigans
by Devil Wolf Girl
Summary: Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Strawhat Pirates. This is a collection of oneshots centered around our favorite rubber-brained idiot and his adventures. With Luffy as the Captain, you know things are gonna get crazy. Requests are welcomed!


**Fears**

**Disclaimer ~ I do not own One Piece**

***The one with Luffy's three fears***

Monkey D. Luffy was only ever afraid of three things in his life.

Thunderstorms was the first. A fear born from being three years old and completely alone during the worst storm the island had seen in decades. It was just so loud scary that the child couldn't take it. He tried not to be afraid but it never worked. He would flinch every time the flash of lightning went off, knowing the loud BOOM of thunder would be quick to follow.

The only times Luffy had ever experienced a storm, he was by himself. There was nobody around to calm his fears and tell him that everything would be okay. The one time he ever tried seeking comfort from his grandpa ended up with Garp dropping him in the forest by himself during the next storm. That experience only escalated his trauma, and Luffy learned to spend storms hiding somewhere small and dark. Hands clamped over his ears in an attempt to keep the sound out.

It was Sabo that made this fear go away.

The blonde had woken up during the storm due to Ace's arm digging into his face. After he detangled himself from Ace, he noticed that Luffy wasn't there. Instead, the youngest was tucked into the corner of the treehouse. He was shaking like a leaf, with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands clamped over his ears.

"Didn't you know Lu?" Sabo had asked, pulling the younger into his lap and wrapping a blanket around the two of them. "Storms are just dragons having a party."

"No they're not. Parties are fun. Storms are scary," Luffy said, flinching at the latest clap of thunder.

"Yes they are, I swear! It all started when the first dragon found an island in the clouds," Sabo said. He went on to tell this story about the first ever dragon party and how each part of the storm related to it. The rain was because the dragons were swimming and splashing and the harder the rain, the more water was being splashed. Thunder and lighting were the dragons showing off to each other with increasingly fancy dances. Luffy was hanging off Sabo's every word and didn't even register the storm anymore. He soon fell asleep with his head on Sabo's shoulder, dreaming about dragons and parties. Everytime it stormed Sabo would tell Luffy a story until the child fell asleep. In the end, Luffy grew to enjoy storms.

His second fear was fire, after being trapped in the Grey Terminal as it was burned to the ground. It took month before he could look at a campfire and not immediately think of that day. It took even longer for the nightmares to go away. Nightmares of being burned alive or watching his brothers being burned and unable to help them. He woke up screaming most nights. Ace would hold him close and tell him that it was just a dream until Luffy calmed down and fell asleep again.

Then they found a devil fruit that turned Ace into fire, and suddenly Luffy wasn't afraid anymore. Because Ace promised he would never let anything hurt him. Ace's fire meant warmth and safety. Luffy only needed to remember that feeling to feel comforted instead of afraid. Ace was fire and nothing would EVER make Luffy afraid of his big brother.

His third fear was one he wasn't sure he'd ever get over. It was a fear born when he learned Sabo died. The months that followed were some of the worst because Luffy would say or do something as if Sabo was there, but then he wasn't and it _hurt_. It hurt that a huge part of his life was suddenly missing and would never come back.

After Luffy made Ace promise not to die, he thought he was over the fear. Then Kuma appeared and Luffy was powerless. He had to watch as Kuma sent his crew away from him one by one. Completely and utterly helpless to stop him. And afterwards, Marineford happened. Ace _broke his promise_ and Luffy had to watch as Akainu shoved a magma coated fist through his brother's stomach. Because Luffy _wasn't strong enough_.

Luffy spent two years away from his Nakama and grieving for Ace. He trained and trained every single day so he could grow stronger and not repeat the same mistakes again. He wouldn't let his Nakama be taken from him anymore. Luffy wouldn't be able to handle that pain again.

He once told his brothers something. Just as they had started a tentative friendship and long before they actually became brothers. He said that being alone was worse than being hurt. Luffy still believes in those words. Because being alone is Luffy's biggest fear of them all.

**And done! I actually had no idea what I was doing as I wrote this (yes I realize I say that a lot) but since I was halfway finished I figured I might as well get it over with. I have no idea when I started this chapter but I'm in a One Piece mood so I went to see what fics I have for it and found this one.**

**Before I forget, I adjusted the timeline to fit more with this fic. I'm like...80% sure Ace got his devil fruit after setting out to sea, but I decided to make him get it a little earlier so it fits with the story better. I had it in my head that I wanted 3 fears, but I couldn't think of the third so I went with fire and well, you all read the result.**

**No I am not abandoning any of my other fics, I promise. Part of it was that I got to working on a PJO reading the series fic, which took up my time away from the other fics. Another part is that I got distracted reading fics and wasn't writing at all while distracted. The third part is I have to work so when I get off I'm too tired to really want to do any thinking.**

**I will be taking requests as I always do for my oneshot collections so if you have any ideas you want me to write, feel free to share and I'll do my best. Thank you for reading this story! Please Review, Follow, and Favorite! I'll see you all on the next update!**


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